Okay, first question, and it appears to be one on the Paizo boards as well--with Ultimate Combat pumping out a ton of new weapons specifically designed for monks, there seems to be a large disconnect as there was no commensurate "add these weapons to monk proficiencies."

I'd say no. Monks start with a fairly definite list of proficiencies, and the "monk" descriptor just means that you get to perform a flurry of blows with it.

Some weapons, like the temple sword from APG, say right in the description that monks are proficient in it. If that description is missing, than you need to take a prof. in it.

__________________Ewan: Tell me, when you drove up, did you see a sign outside that said "dead ninja storage?" Kat: No, I didn't...Ewan: Do you wanna know why I don't have a sign like that? Because storing dead ninjas, isn't my business!

I'm not suggesting that they should get all the weapons. I'm suggesting they should get a few, at the very least. Compare with the ninja, which gets something like 3 times as many weapons to pick from.

The counter-argument, and seeming consensus at Paizo's boards, is that's a LOT of weapons specifically build for monks that monks can't use. That means that any monk who wants to use any of those weapons has to spend an EWP to use a weapon built for monks--like a bo staff. Having to have a separate proficiency from quarterstaff to use a bo staff is ridiculous.

Paizo added 24 weapons that monks can flurry with, but to use any of them they have to spend a feat. I think there must have been an oversight. To go back to your APG reference, they added one, and only one, monk weapon and it was tacked onto the monk list. Something like bo staffs and tonfas should at least have been included. In fact, the bo staff makes more sense than the quarterstaff and the tonfa more than the crossbow or the handaxe.

EDITED to add - a one level dip into Unarmed Fighter actually becomes broken, in this context. You don't lose much of anything on the very end of the monk class, and gain proficiency in every monk weapon both current and in any future supplements, because of the way it's worded. Right now, that's my plan. I'll take Monk 1 (my current build-in-progress uses Flowing Monk) and then Fighter 1, and then Monk 18. I'll lose +1 AC and Perfect Self, but I'll gain a crapload of proficiencies and any one style feat regardless of prereqs.

Not to be an ass, but this organized play thing seems to strongly forbid house rules along those lines. I would certainly allow it, but I'm a very loose sort of DM. Instead of, you know, a faceless organization intent on making sure everyone follows the rules exactly.
It is a pretty dumb oversight though you should email them or something. Also in general a lot of these eastern weapons being exotic is a little strange. Especially a bo staff (seriously that's not just a quarterstaff? wtf?).

Also I still don't know what to go with. I'm currently taking a long look at an Oracle of Life. If someone was thinking cleric, though, I might go with cavalier or just fighter.
Can someone with more experience give their impressions on how effective I could be focusing on a reach-only weapon? I'm sort of imagining this dude on a horse with a poleaxe or something.

Originally Posted by zachol#
Can someone with more experience give their impressions on how effective I could be focusing on a reach-only weapon? I'm sort of imagining this dude on a horse with a poleaxe or something.

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For mounted combat you really want to be small, riding a dog or wolf, so that going indoors is not a huge penalty. Reach-only is not a big deal for a mounted character, because your mount threatens where you don't, and you can usually five-foot anyways. The biggest problem with reach weapons appear when you're enlarged and end up with a ten-foot blind spot, but you don't want to be enlarged as a mounted warrior anyways--especially not if you're small.

One catch: for this tactic to work without fail, you need both a ride and a handle animal check of at least +9. It's a DC 10 ride check to fight at the same time as your mount, and a DC 10 handle animal check to get the mount to back down/attack again so that you're making your attacks in rhythm. Fail the first and you can't attack, fail the second and the wolf won't five-foot where it needs to be.

Not really. Menhir Savant archetype can get a small caster level boost and has cool fluff, although it gives up wild empathy. World Walker archetype trades a few minor abilities for favoured terrain, which is fairly useful if you pick Underground. I'm not that familiar with the shaman and terrain archetypes, although in general the former seem overspecialized and the latter seem okay.

The druid domains are pretty bad, so unless you're using an archetype to get something special, go with an animal companion. There are lots of viable options: from an optimization standpoint I suggest the big cat, while from an awesomization standpoint I suggest the GIANT SCORPION

There are plenty of decent non-core spells of course, but none so cool that you absolutely need to see them. Not a lot of druid-specific feats that I can think of either.

Ok. So. Cavaliers gain an animal compainion like a druid, and among the various benefits they get +4 to Handle Animal with the companion. I'm intending to have a Cha of at least 14, so 1+3+2+4 at +10. Handling an animal is DC 10, and DC 12 if it's wounded.
So. What prevents me from staying unmounted during combat, and directing the wolf to attack things and keep them at a distance, while I move around, flank things, and so on? As long as I stay adjacent to the wolf, there's only three squares that can't be attacked, and I can just take a five foot step away. If the enemy closes, they'll be in range of the wolf.
This seems better than constant Ride checks at +5.

Originally Posted by zachol#
Not to be an ass, but this organized play thing seems to strongly forbid house rules along those lines. I would certainly allow it, but I'm a very loose sort of DM. Instead of, you know, a faceless organization intent on making sure everyone follows the rules exactly.



No, I wasn't asking for a house rule. In fact, I've pretty much already come to grips with how it works. I'm just pointing out what appears to be a major oversight.

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It is a pretty dumb oversight though you should email them or something. Also in general a lot of these eastern weapons being exotic is a little strange. Especially a bo staff (seriously that's not just a quarterstaff? wtf?).

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Exactly.

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Can someone with more experience give their impressions on how effective I could be focusing on a reach-only weapon? I'm sort of imagining this dude on a horse with a poleaxe or something.



I don't know about in Pathfinder, but I played a dwarf fighter with a halberd for a whole campaign, and it wasn't really hard at all. It involved a lot of 5 foot steps and readied actions, but it was quite fun.

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Originally Posted by LeadPal#
The saddest part? The temple sword is better than every monk weapon in Ultimate Combat except the sansetsukon.

It sucks and I'm hoping for errata, but for now let's try to overlook it.

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Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought as well.

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Note that PFS is capped at level 12.

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I read that, and yet somehow I also forgot. So that bears a second look at monk 12 to see what I'm missing.

Also - I'm heading back to my place today, hopefully to a house that has power and no damage. If I've got power, you'll know by tonight...

Thanks for the advice, LP - I'll look into those. Just saw that they reduced the effectiveness of druid summons, so I'm not sure if it's really worthwhile to go that route. Hm... animal companions are less effective as well - so far I thought they'd only fixed wild shape. Ah well, I'll look at it more closely these days.

I'm almost done my Flowing Monk. Just have to purchase supplies. Usually it's hard to stay under 150GP, but with monks, it's actually kind of hard to purchase up to the limit without buying a bunch of little crap.

Thinking of going barbarian instead. Barbarian/sorcerer and into dragon disciple. Wanted to play this character twice before and twice the game didn't really get going (both started out at higher level though).

__________________Ewan: Tell me, when you drove up, did you see a sign outside that said "dead ninja storage?" Kat: No, I didn't...Ewan: Do you wanna know why I don't have a sign like that? Because storing dead ninjas, isn't my business!